Four prominent female athletes have joined forces to launch a new media and commerce venture aimed at raising the voices of women in sports.
WNBA and Olympic legend Sue Bird, U.S. Women's National Team star Alex Morgan, snowboarding gold medalist Chloe Kim and Olympic gold medal swimmer Simone Manuel have teamed up to create TOGETHXR.
"With a focus on rich storytelling rooted in lifestyle and youth culture, TOGETHXR is an unapologetic platform where representation and equality is the norm," the website says.
Self.com reports that despite women making up about 40% of participation in all sports, only about 4% of sports media coverage goes to them, according to a 2018 United Nations report.
“When there’s such a small piece...you almost have to fight with one another to get it," Bird told Self.com "I’m glad that we’re now at a point where (female athletes) all kind of look at each other like, ‘Wait, what? That’s not the problem here. The problem is we need a bigger piece.’”
Morgan said the goal is not to get more women's coverage in the current media landscape. It's to change the landscape.
“It’s easy to stay in the past and feel comfortable, and I think that’s what a lot of (sports) networks have done,” Morgan told Self.com.